The present disclosure relates to a system for producing rolled ice cream. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a system for producing rolled ice cream comprising a balance valve configured to allow for the bypass of an outlet tube delivering refrigerant to a plate surface. The system enables a compressor to remain operational, even when a predetermined minimum operating temperature is met.
Ice cream and other frozen dairy products have long been popular, and a relatively recent offering known as rolled ice cream has built upon this popularity. The process to make rolled ice cream generally involves pouring a mixture of liquefied cream and/or other ingredients onto a top surface of a super-chilled plate, which quickly freezes the cream mixture as it is evenly spread upon the plate. The plate is chilled via a refrigerant system that includes a compressor and a condenser, wherein the compressor and condenser deliver a refrigerant gas to a bottom surface of the plate through a tube or series of tubes. The frozen cream may then be scraped from the plate's top surface in the form of one or more rolls, which are then served directly to the customer in an appropriate container.
As the rolled ice cream is made specifically for the customer on-the-spot, the addition of artificial stabilizing agents and other artificial ingredients that are found in many conventional ice cream products may not be necessary. Furthermore, the rolled ice cream may not be subjected to the cyclical thawing and refreezing that is often experienced by conventional ice cream products, which diminishes the texture and appearance of those ice cream products.
As the plate upon which the cream mixture is poured must be maintained within an appropriate temperature range in order to allow the mixture to rapidly freeze, active control of the various components of the system, whether manual or automatic, is needed. Typically, the top surface of the plate is maintained within a predetermined temperature range (e.g., −19° to −21° C.) when the system is in operation. Such a temperature range allows the cream mixture to freeze in a timely manner, while still enabling the operator to manipulate and spread the mixture prior to a complete freeze.
In order for the plate to be maintained within the predetermined temperature range, the system must limit the amount of time the plate is subjected to the refrigerant supplied by the condenser. As such, known systems have simply shut down the compressor when a predetermined minimum operational temperature of the plate (e.g., −21° C.) is reached, which stops the flow of refrigerant to the bottom surface of the plate. Once the plate reaches a predetermined maximum operational temperature (e.g., −19° C.), the compressor is instructed to turn on again, thereby again supplying refrigerant to the plate. In this fashion, the compressor may turn on and off numerous times throughout the process of making a single order of rolled ice cream.
While such a configuration may enable the plate to be maintained within a predetermined operational temperature range, there are several disadvantages to repeatedly turning the compressor on and off. Namely, the initial burst of gas delivered from the condenser after the compressor is turned back on is actually a hot gas, similar to the initial burst of hot air delivered from a vehicle's air conditioning unit when first activated. Thus, if a compressor is shut down in the middle of the ice cream making process, only to be turned back on during that same process, the plate experiences a short burst of hot gas at a bottom surface thereof. The warming of the plate, however brief, may negatively affect the consistency of the ice cream, and may result in need for the process to be repeated.
Accordingly, this document describes a system that is intended to addresses the issues discussed above and/or other issues.